OTN switching systems and methods using an SDN controller and match/action rules

Abstract

A method and network include receiving a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) connection; determining information in overhead of the TDM connection; and if match / action rules defined by controller exist for the TDM connection, establishing the TDM connection based on matching an associated rule in the match / action rules. A Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller is configured to receive a request from a node related to a new TDM connection in the network; determine one or more routes in the network for the new TDM connection; determine match / action rules for the one or more routes at associated nodes of the one or more nodes; if the one or more routes include at least two routes, determine a group table at associated nodes of the one or more nodes to distinguish between the at least two routes; and provide the match / action rules and the group table to the associated nodes.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE[0001]The present disclosure relates generally to networking systems and methods. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to Optical Transport Network (OTN) switching systems and methods using a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller and match / action rules.BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE[0002]Common standards for automatically switched OTN (G.709) networks include Automatically Switched Optical Networks (ASON) G.7715 and Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS). These rely on link state routing protocols (e.g., Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)) and protocols such as Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) for circuit setup. Each node maintains the link state of the network and routes are computed at the source node based on least cost or some other criteria. Strict adherence to standards is required for interoperability between vendors. All of these run either over a dedicated in-band communication channel (e.g., Genera...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method and controller for establishing and protecting connections in a network using Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) and SoftwareDefined Networking (SDN). The method involves receiving information about a TDM connection, determining match / action rules for the connection based on the information, and creating cross-connects for the connection based on the rules. The controller includes a network interface, processor, and memory to receive requests for new TDM connections, determine routes for the connections, and provide match / action rules and a group table to distinguish between the routes. The technical effect of this patent is to improve the efficiency and reliability of network connections through automated and flexible management of TDM and SDN resources.

Problems solved by technology

The above works well for packets but there is no obvious way to extend this to OTN.

OTN does not have the same lookup store and forward properties as packets, making it difficult to take full advantage of a protocol like OpenFlow.

There are no solutions in the standards (or being proposed) for setting up connections with simple match / action rules for OTN as is done with Ethernet or other packet technologies.

This approach is limited to using OpenFlow as a replacement for current provisioning interfaces and does not fully exploit OpenFlow's advantages mentioned herein.

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